Ostrava Squash Open RD1: Serna and Warne Survive Five-Gamers

The opening round of the Ostrava Squash Open took place at Sportovni Centrum Fajne on Wednesday afternoon, with England’s Jordan Warne and Colombian Nicolas Serna surviving five-game battles to make their way into the last 16 of the Challenger 10 competition.

Warne, the World No.274, took on Spain’s Aron Astray in his first match of the week in the Czech Republic, and he started strongly, winning the first on a tie-break before then also taking the second game to hold a commanding advantage. However, the Spaniard fought back to win the next two games to send the match into a decider, one Warne was able to battle through to win 11-9, and eventually take the victory in the match.

The other match to go to five on the opening day was the Colombia’s Nicolas Serna, with the World No.261 taking the lead twice in his contest against Germany’s Heiko Schwarzer. He took the first 12-10, and the third 16-14, but found himself going into a deciding fifth game. Eventually, Serna came through to win in five after just less than an hour, to move through to the second round.

Elsewhere, there were wins for two more Englishmen, in Noah Meredith and Lewis Doughty, while Austria’s Lukas Windischberger, Egypt’s Abdelrahman Nasser, Brazil’s Vini Rodrigues are also through. Ondrej Vorlicek will join a quarter of Czech hopefuls in the second round, facing off against compatriot and No.7 seed David Zeman.

The second round of the Ostrava Squash Open will take place on Thursday, August 4, with all of the action from SC Fajne being shown live and free on the PSA Challenger Tour YouTube channel. You can also keep up to date with live scores from the tournament on the PSA World Tour’s website.

First Round Results: Ostrava Squash Open
Lewis Doughty (ENG) bt [WC] Alex Kelar (CZE) 3-0: 11-3, 11-5, 11-2 (19m)
Lukas Windischberger (AUT) bt Adam Sinkule (CZE) 3-0: 11-4, 11-5, 11-5 (20m)
Nicolas Serna (COL) bt Heiko Schwarzer (GER) 3-2: 12-10, 9-11, 16-14, 8-11, 11-5 (58m)
Vini Rodrigues (BRA) bt Pavel Bodis (CZE) 3-0: 11-1, 11-5, 11-1 (16m)
Noah Meredith (ENG) bt Lubos Walter Jr (CZE) 3-0: 11-8, 11-6, 11-4 (22m)
Ondrej Vorlicek (CZE) bt Petr Nohel (CZE) 3-1: 2-11, 11-6, 12-10, 11-8 (46m)
Jordan Warne (ENG) bt Aron Astray (ESP) 3-2: 13-11, 11-6, 7-11, 8-11, 11-9 (63m)
Abdelrahman Nasser (EGY) bt [WC] Ondrej Uherka (CZE) 3-0: 11-7, 11-9, 11-7 (35m)

Second Round Draw: To Be Played Thursday, August 4
[1] Diego Gobbi (BRA) v Lewis Doughty (ENG)
Lukas Windischberger (AUT) v [8] Marc Lopez (ESP)
[5] Viktor Byrtus (CZE) v Nicolas Serna (COL)
Vini Rodrigues (BRA) v [4] Marek Panacek (CZE)
[3] Owain Taylor (WAL) v Noah Meredith (ENG)
Ondrej Vorlicek (CZE) v [7] David Zeman (CZE)
[6] James Peach (ENG) v Jordan Warne (ENG)
Abdelrahman Nasser (EGY) v [2] Jakub Solnicky (CZE)